City Police Open Drive Against Illegal Parking

Cambridge Captain of Traffic Edward F. Tierney last night opened a large-scale tagging drive against overnight parkers in the Harvard Square area. "Cars belonging to persons who have failed to answer their summonses will be towed away," he stated, "regardless of whether they belong to members of the University or not."

Tierney stated that he would not consult the University's files to locate the owner of an out-of-state car, but would merely have it towed away. However, he praised the University's newly broadened program of keeping a file of the locations where students park their cars.

At the same time, Police Chief Patrick F. Ready said that it was no concern of his whether the University ticketed students for parking violations or not.

Solely Cambridge Police

Ready and Tierney concurred in that the University police were expected to ticket only those cars parked on Harvard property. Ready added that the enforcement of city ordinances on the streets was "solely a matter for the Cambridge police."

If University police continued to ticket cars on public streets, however, Ready maintained, "students may find themselves the recipients of more than one parking ticket per night."

City Councilor A. Vellucci joined the police officials in denying the right of the University to tag cars on Cambridge streets.

"It is the function of the city and of Harvard" Vellucci claimed. "to find adequate parking facilities for the students and staff." He concluded, "Instead, the University Police join in blackjacking the students."

Too much blame has been attributed to Harvard students for overnight parking in front of private homes, said the councilor. Other colleges in the Harvard Square area, such as Radcliffe. Sargent. and Leslie, are also partly responsible, he argued.

An order of Vellucci, passed unanimously by the City Council last Monday, directed City Manager John J. Curry '19 and Chief Ready to confer with representatives of colleges in the Square area to discuss the "parking nuisance" caused by their "students and administrators."